My senior project will focus on gender within Islam. Specifically, I want to focus on how  2nd generation Arab Muslims are negotiating Islamic interpretations regarding gendered clothing? As a 2nd generation immigrant, Islam is a major part of my identity that impacts how I present myself to the world. There is always a false perception of Islam as sexist and oppressive religion. That false perception is a result of the media and the culture around Islam. The culture around Islam paints gender as black and white. A lot of Muslims follow the traditional belief that women should have girly styles and be covered, but men are supposed to be tough, not care about clothes, and be regimented about the style they choose for themselves. This aspect of the culture is something I disagree with, and that has caused issues with my parents, who were raised in Egypt as traditional Muslims. Their understanding of gender clothing is constantly shifting. For instance, my mom would frown upon me wearing women’s clothing even though I would look amazing in it. However,  she loves when I do add the pinks into my outfits.  These conversations of how I should present myself, become extremely complicated when asking why certain aspects are like this. Then the response to that is all the Islamic texts being used to support her reasons, even though they may contradict each other, and the text is too vague. For instance,  the Hadith is a common example of a text that is constantly used to the justification for why this is haram/forbidden. The Hadith is a volume of books that is one interpretation of the Quran written back 500 years+ ago. This is just a glimpse into the complexity of my overall question. This project is so rich it has layers. It challenges what it means to be Muslim in 2022, and how to go about talking and asking about this overall question. This project deconstructs what I have learned growing up, and gives me the space to analyze the Quran and truly find what it means to be Muslim for myself, and how I should practice it and represent it for my peers. The goal of this project is to critically think about the intersection and the complexity of Islam and gender. I will approach this by reading multiple holy Islamic texts, reading multiple essays on this topic, talking to imams (leaders of mosques), and I will be writing an analytical essay on this. I will also be volunteering at a Sunday school. The experience piece is during my time volunteering at a Sunday school, I will be doing a group study among the kids. The conclusion of this project will be a writing piece that will tell the story of this journey. At the end of my project, the sense of accomplishment will come from reaching my personal goal of building a stronger foundation for myself to support an opinion about what gender is in Islam and where I should go from here. Success will come from a deep understanding of all the fundamentals that I need in order to go beyond just books and essays. This project is just the beginning of this journey.